Using time-series analyses, Brenner (e.g., 1976) found unemployment and inflation to powerfully predict the fluctuations of a wide range of mental, physical, and social pathologies. Since his methods do not reveal the processes involved, we cannot be sure if these effects continue to operate today, and whether they are restricted to severe outcomes (e.g., mortality) occurring within a small segment of the population. According to Brenner (1976), the young and the elderly (few of whom work) were most vulnerable to the effects of unemployment. However, a cross-sectional survey by Caplovitz (1979) did not find the retired to be as badly affected by inflation as Brenner had indicated (although a subsequent reanalysis by Suzman modified this finding). In addition, current inflation rates may have already outdated these results. Innovative methods are proposed to investigate the impact of the economic cycle on the elderly, for whom, unlike the young, individual data is readily available. The proposed research does the following: 1) uses Brenner's equations to predict current pathology rates; reanalyzes his data to discover recent changes in vulnerability; and utilizes additional detrending and other methods to discover the reasons for any change; 2) performs a contextual analysis of the effect of local unemployment on health and morale in a national cross-sectional survey of the elderly in order to extend Brenner's analyses to less severe outcomes and to investigate the underlying processes; 3) utilizes a time-series analysis of replicated questions in the Israel Continuing Public Opinion Survey to assess the effect of hyperinflation on the elderly in Israel.